Visa Debit + Money debited months after transaction.

pcourt400

Evening all,

Quick question. I paid for parking at an automated chip and pin type paying machine 3 months ago and then again once a week for 4 weeks or so after that. I had assumed that this money had been taken from my account at the time, but on checking my statement it has been taken today all in one lump sum, between 2-3 months after my purchases.

On investigation with my bank it appears that these were presented at the same time, the transaction only processed yesterday, meaning my details were held somewhere for 3 months without action.

The bank stated that this was very unusual and purchases ought to be processed within 5 days.

Has anyone an idea as to where i might find the rules covering this? It seems crazy that a debit card advertised as being instantly (ish) debited from your account can have a 3 month gap! Between transaction and debiting the money.

Thanks.

chipolata

I paid for some petrol at asda back in august approx £ 60.00 this has not been taken from my account yet, but have used the petrol station since and money has been taken within a day or so, Don't want to go and spend the £60 in case asda come for it at a later date. I look forward to any replies you receive regarding this

pcourt400

Yes, looking forward to any answers here. I think that there must be a period within which the company must present the transaction to the card handler/bank; if not then years later they might suddenly take money.

I know that i owe the money, it's just very very inconvienient that they've taken it all at once and when i wasn't expecting!

richard9991

i think it is 6 years

Mikeyorks

pcourt400 wrote: »

I know that i owe the money, it's just very very inconvienient that they've taken it all at once and when i wasn't expecting!

As your Bank told you - it's a bit unusual for transactions to be 'rolled up' like this. I can only assume the machine is relatively unintelligent and (relatively low transaction values) has no direct access to get the transaction authorised (is there an authorisation code on your receipts?). So you may not have noticed your available balance being reduced at the time (as would happen with an authorisation) .... and the money then being returned to your available balance around 10 days later - as your Banks software gave up waiting for a transaction that didn't arrive.

However, whilst it's unusual - it's legitimate. Most debits are taken in the 'authorisation' window of 7 working days ..... but those few that aren't still have the statutory period of 6 years to make the claim.